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The US stock market is mixed on Thursday amid data of a reduction in weekly jobless claims and growth registered by oil and gas prices, after EIA data showed lower-than-expected increase in the US natural gas supplies.

Five stocks that are trading higher on Thursday on the back of different news are Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT), Sunedison Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:SEMI), Canadian Solar Inc. (NASDAQ:CSIQ), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) and Cobalt International Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CIE). Let’s take a closer look at the stocks in question and assess the hedge fund sentiment towards them.

Academic research has shown that certain insider purchases historically outperformed the market by an average of seven percentage points per year. This effect is more pronounced in small-cap stocks. Another exception is the small-cap stock picks of hedge funds. Our research has shown that imitating the 15 most popular small-cap stocks among hedge funds outperformed the market by nearly a percentage point per month between 1999 and 2012 (read more details here).

Wal-Mart Stores Beats Estimates

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT)’s shares have inched up today after the retail giant surprised traders with better-than-expected results for the second quarter of fiscal 2017, which included US comparable sales growth of 1.6% as more shoppers are coming to the company’s stores, thanks to its Neighborhood Market grocery stores and online growth. Overall, Walmart earned $1.07 per share, above analysts’ forecasts of $1.02, while revenue of $120.9 billion also beat the estimated $120.16 billion. For the full fiscal 2017, Wal-Mart expects adjusted EPS between $4.15 and $4.35, versus the prior guidance of $4.00 to $4.30 and the consensus estimate of $4.27. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns 40.23 million shares of Wal-Mart as of the end of June.

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GlobalWafers to Acquire Sunedison Semiconductor

Sunedison Semiconductor Ltd (NASDAQ:SEMI) shares have shot up by around 39% after the company agreed to be acquired by Taiwan-based GlobalWafers for $683 million including debt. The deal was unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies. The companies have a combined 17% market share in silicon-wafer industry. SunEdison Semiconductor’s CEO Shaker Sadasivam said in a statement that the merger is in the best interest of shareholders, and both companies expect a “smooth” and efficient closing of the deal before the end of the year. Among the investors we track, Seth Klarman’s Baupost Group holds 8.37 million shares of Sunedison Semiconductor, according to its last 13F filing.

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Move on to the next page to see why shares of Canadian Solar, NetApp and Cobalt Energy are advancing today.

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